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Global Health & Social Science BA

UCAS code: L511, L513 (with a year abroad)

Key information

Course type:
Single honours
Delivery mode:
Campus
Study mode:
Full time
Required A-level:
AAB
Full entry requirements, including contextual requirements
Duration:
Three years full-time or four years with a year abroad
Application status:
Open
Start date:
September 2024
Application deadline:
31 January 2024
Apply via UCAS

This Global Health and Social Science BA will teach you how to analyse and address issues of disparities in health and well-being around the world. You’ll study global health through an interdisciplinary curriculum that covers complex social, cultural, political, economic and ethical aspects, encouraging you to explore the field from a variety of perspectives. And by learning how to bring theory and practice together, you’ll be empowered to form your own ideas of how to make a difference. This undergraduate Global Health and Social Science degree will demonstrate how to think critically about the power of scientific and medical knowledge, and how healthcare practices and technologies are shaped. You’ll be taught by internationally renowned social scientists with expertise in global public health and beyond. You’ll get to engage with social science research using real-world examples of how policymaking impacts life experience and explore how humanitarian strategies are used to reduce suffering and improve health and well-being around the globe. And you will investigate social science approaches to the most pressing global health challenges of our time, from HIV/AIDS epidemics, the Ebola crisis in West Africa and the opioid crisis in the United States and Britain, to the trauma of war, the apparent exposition of psychiatric disorders around the world, and access to medicines for all. You will also learn how to apply a broad range of social science theories and methods from the fields of anthropology and sociology, epidemiology and political science, philosophy and economics, history and bioethics. From your second year, you can choose from a mix of interdisciplinary modules to focus on the social issues you care most about. This might be how racism and mental distress are related, why addiction-related deaths in the UK continue to rise year on year, or how gender-based violence limits access to healthcare globally. You can use your career ambitions to shape your curriculum, too. For example, if you want to pursue a career creating policy that will promote health equity, work with AI and digital health, explore the relationship between mental health and the environment, or become a humanitarian health worker, there are modules to support this. It’s also possible to enhance your learning, and develop your skills by studying abroad for a year at a range of universities, and gain real-world experience with an internship at a partner organisation. For example, you could intern in policy advocacy and research roles in organisations such as Malaria No More and the Centre for Genetics & Society.

Key benefits

  • Discover how to apply a breadth of social science theories and methods to urgent contemporary problems of health, disease and medicine.
  • Understand how healthcare systems around the world operate, and how policymaking in global, international, and national contexts works in practice, not theory.
  • Shape your curriculum with a range of interdisciplinary optional modules and study the social issues you care most about.
  • Gain transferable skills and expertise through an organised internship scheme and work with partner organisations such as Malaria No More and the Centre for Genetics & Society.
  • Choose to study abroad for a year and deepen your expertise.
  • All students are eligible for a £9,250 scholarship opportunity, including UK, EU and Overseas students.
  • We rank 2nd in the UK for sociology and social policy (The Guardian Subject Rankings 2024).
Katya

It’s intellectually stimulating, combining theory with practical application and is taught by leading members of the Global Health field in the heart of London.

Katya, Global Health & Social Medicine

Employability

This Global Health & Social Science BA will equip you with knowledge in a fast-growing field of research that’s expected to open up a range of exciting job opportunities in diverse careers at the intersection of research, policy and practice.

You’ll graduate from a university that boasts the best job prospects of any London or Russell Group university, with an employment rate of 95.2 per cent.

Destinations

This Global Health and Social Science degree provides a rigorous intellectual and empirical grounding for careers in public administration, NGOs and INGOs, charities, think tanks, academia, and social advocacy organisations. Our graduates enter a wide range of professions within health services, public health, government, and NGOs in the UK and beyond.

For example, Global Health & Social Science BA graduates could work in roles such as:

  • Policy (e.g., Nuffield Council on Bioethics, King’s Fund, UK Biobank Ethics & Governance Council, public health policy analyst World Health Organization)
  • National and international NGOs (e.g., Cancer Research UK, British Lung Foundation, Médecins Sans Frontières, Gates Foundation, Malaria No More)
  • Government (Department of Health, Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority, Health Research Authority, Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology)
  • Private sector (e.g., management consultancy, political affairs, pharmaceutical companies)
  • Academia (postdoctoral study).

Hear from some of our students about why they chose to study our BA programme.

Curious to find out more? Access on-demand content including taster lectures and talks, and meet our current staff and students on our subject hub page.

Employability

This Global Health & Social Science BA will equip you with knowledge in a fast-growing field of research that’s expected to open up a range of exciting job opportunities in diverse careers at the intersection of research, policy and practice.

You’ll graduate from a university that boasts the best job prospects of any London or Russell Group university, with an employment rate of 95.2 per cent.

Destinations

This Global Health and Social Science degree provides a rigorous intellectual and empirical grounding for careers in public administration, NGOs and INGOs, charities, think tanks, academia, and social advocacy organisations. Our graduates enter a wide range of professions within health services, public health, government, and NGOs in the UK and beyond.

For example, Global Health & Social Science BA graduates could work in roles such as:

  • Policy (e.g., Nuffield Council on Bioethics, King’s Fund, UK Biobank Ethics & Governance Council, public health policy analyst World Health Organization)
  • National and international NGOs (e.g., Cancer Research UK, British Lung Foundation, Médecins Sans Frontières, Gates Foundation, Malaria No More)
  • Government (Department of Health, Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority, Health Research Authority, Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology)
  • Private sector (e.g., management consultancy, political affairs, pharmaceutical companies)
  • Academia (postdoctoral study).

Hear from some of our students about why they chose to study our BA programme.

Curious to find out more? Access on-demand content including taster lectures and talks, and meet our current staff and students on our subject hub page.

Key information

Course type:
Single honours
Delivery mode:
Campus
Study mode:
Full time
Required A-level:
AAB
Full entry requirements, including contextual requirements
Duration:
Three years full-time or four years with a year abroad
Application status:
Open
Start date:
September 2024
Application deadline:
31 January 2024
Apply via UCAS

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